Minutes Archives

Bill reviewed our position in month 7 of FY06. Non-resident tuition is down although resident tuition numbers are good. A small number of students can affect our revenue significantly. Grad tuition is up over last year, especially their out-of-state population. We will probably under-spend our financial aid budget because our out-of-state students are generally a wealthier group than in the past.

FBRC report -Alice: Gene Fahey met with the FBRC to talk about admissions issues. We are targeting a 50/50 mix of resident and non-resident admissions, and we are at 43% non-resident now. This is a very important initiative, one that the cabinet is very strongly encouraging. While non-resident applications are high, not all of them enroll.

Alice gave the FBRC report; they are currently working on a student recruitment study that could give prove valuable in how to recruit more out-of-state students and with retention.

Julie Bernier gave a short update on the new Frost School of Continuing and Professional Studies, otherwise known as the evening division. She distributed an informational handout about the school, which will blend online and on-site instruction.

Bill distributed a packet of USNH strategic indicators. The board of trustees wanted a smaller set of indicators that could realistically drive decisions. The board will have another discussion on the resulting eighteen indicators on April 20 at PSU. After explaining the format of the document and some minor discussion of several indicators, Bill focused for this meeting on the financial indicators.

Alice reported that the FBRC recently sent out to department heads a small survey regarding departmental recruitment efforts. As those results are returning, the committee will meet on Thursday to talk about that and the governance report from the exec council.

Introductions were made for the benefit of Linda Dauer, who joins this committee and the financial affairs division in a new position as the director of budget and financial planning under Bill Crangle.

Bill spent most of the meeting reviewing the current status of the ’06 budget and the budget prep process for FY07.

No FBRC report was given as there had been no meeting on which to report.

Julie reported on the UPC. Charged by the president to make recommendations for action from examination of five key documents (listed in previous minutes), the UPC will finalize their recommendations at the next meeting and submit them to Dr. Wharton. The cabinet is working in parallel with the UPC to develop a list of budget needs for next year. The cabinet will send those needs to the UPC, from which they will come to the CBC.

Barbara Fahey gave an energy report by reviewing two handouts; Utilities Projections for 2005, and Utilities Forecast FY2006-2008, which led to an extensive energy discussion. Substantial price increases are predicted in fuel oil and electricity that will continue to exceed our budget. Richard emphasized the need for two types of conservation – capital improvements and changes in behavior. Waste management is another potential problem. With only two landfills left in the state of New Hampshire, we may face a future crisis in the disposal of our solid waste.

Bill reviewed FY06 budget prep. We requested a 6.7% increase from the board and hope that we will end up with 3%. Judy built a model based on 3% that does not include utilities and strategic plan priorities, which could mean $400K to $800K more to the budget.

Bill also began a discussion about comparator data, beginning with costs and financial aid, which will continue into the next meeting. Nancy will send out the comparator charts via email for review.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday, February 8 at 8am in the HUB Student Senate Room (119).

Bill Crangle had emailed the fees schedule to this group for discussion. Students have not been attending the CBC meetings but they will have a chance to discuss the fees at the Senate meeting March 6th. The fees will then go to the Board of Trustees in April.

Students are involved in the process for the Residential Life, Dining and HUB budgets. The budgets are reviewed in great detail. The rates for benefits and salaries are the same for the auxiliaries as they are for the general fund.

New Residence Hall: we will break ground May 2005 to open in fall 2006. 350 new beds. Frank mentioned it will be for 200 additional students and a transfer of 150 from triples and build up space. Mary Lyon will come off line for a year for a major $12,500,000 renovation. As we go forward there will be a renewed focus on staffing levels, adding to reserves, major R& R on the other residence halls.

We are competitive with off campus housing.

Utilities Plan – raising awareness for next year. New Residence hall has many energy efficient and energy saving features.

Dining will offer more block plans where you buy a certain number of meals over the semester and not over the week as in a traditional plan. We are going to Continuous Dining. Dining Services is up for rebid in a few years. We have been happy with Sodexho. The Comment Board has been a good source for students to give advice and comments. They get results. Dining area was complimented for the new sofa area and the Newfound Room.

Mandatory Fees: Student Activities – allocation hearings are just ending. Students made many changes. Fee will increase about 2.3%. Cheerleaders and Women’s Ice Hockey will be switched to Athletics. Someday we may break out Athletics into a separate fee. Some concern that the organizations do not have an opportunity to appeal. (Follow-up to this discussion – Phil Atkinson said each group is told the full Senate will be approving the budgets and that they should attend that meeting. I believe he thinks they could appeal at that time.) The Student Senate Allocation committee had talked with Bill about getting some guidance. They do have a set of values and a mission statement.

Transportation fee – UNH and KSC have one. Our shuttle has seen a big increase in usage from 106,000 riders last year to 120,000 this year.

Student Recreation, Hartman Union Fee – Terri Potter explained the HUB and Recreation fees includes the Venture Center – shares a position with Health and Human Performance department (HPER). They have plans to add $98,000 for new equipment in the Snack Bar ($25,000 in FY07 and $100,000 in FY08) They need to pay for a new electrical panel – $30,000. They have a serious storage problem and may have to find space off site. They have set money aside over the past couple of years for a major renovation – about $650,000. After that the next big project is the Court room floor and a new roof within 5 years.

Tech Fee – we have not had enough funds recently to fund innovation – only enough to replace what we had funded in the past. The increase is to finish the multi-media project and for innovation.

Dan Moore suggested we could eliminate lab 114 and require students to buy laptops. There could be more discussion on this in the future. Some media classrooms are experiencing low usage and will probably be moved.

The next CBC meeting is Tuesday March 8, 2005 at 8 A.M. (Cancelled due to curtailed operations.)

FBRC Update: Alice The FBRC has been looking at undergraduate courses with enrollment of 9 or fewer students. They will meet again on April 19 to complete their study and form recommendations. An upcoming chairs’ mini-retreat will also discuss program distribution.

Energy Subcommittee: Richard A brainstorming session identified some areas in which PSU wastes energy, and ideas for how we can save it. The resulting document was distributed to the committee prior to the meeting via email. Nick thinks the CBC should recommend to the president that all new buildings meet certain energy savings and certifications before building plans are approved. We are moving in the right direction with the new campus housing, but we missed many opportunities with the Boyd project. The subcommittee’s document will be shared with the UEC (University Environmental Committee). Dick suggested that Bill’s energy report, due to the president in May, should include definitive statements (i.e., action steps) regarding the campus’ commitment to energy conservation. A small committee is working with Bill to write the report. The energy subcommittee also recommends the development of an emergency energy plan. Anyone with suggestions or additions for the subcommittee’s document should contact Richard Sparks as soon as possible.

Student Fees: Bill Bill presented the final USNH student fees for 2006. The housing costs of the other campuses will help determine pricing for our new residence hall. Bill went through a comparison of the fees across UNH, KSC, and PSU. Dick and Bill will meet with the Student Senate Executive Board this week to discuss allocation issues.

Tuition Income: Bill A slight increase was budgeted for out-of-state tuition income, and a decrease in in-state tuition income. Next year’s enrollment is being projected as similar to this year.

FY06 Budget Prep: Bill Two new fund groups have been created for the graduate and evening divisions that will make reporting easier and cleaner for those areas. The cabinet is working on a list of FY06 priorities. These total around $600,000 which, along with a $182,000 budget shortfall, amounts to $782,000 needed to balance and fund the additional priorities. Bill will talk about this more at the next meeting.

Bill discussed tuition projections for FY06 through 09. We always try to project less than the actual to have a cushion. Pre-registration was successful. Admissions exceeded their goal. Unfortunately tuition will continue to increase (up to $14,000 for out-of-state by 2009). There is concern about where the wall is on out-of-state tuition rates.

Next up was the room, board, and student fees for FY06. Dan asked how many students who live off campus eat on the dining plans. A surprising number of them do, perhaps owing to Sodexho’s improvements.

Bill then reviewed the list of FY06 priorities from the cabinet. He mentioned that our short-term investment income increased by 25% (the most in the USNH) due to our better cash management. Each VP’s priority list was reviewed separately.

Since Bill presented a balanced request budget, there was no need for the committee to approve anything. Bill asked the members to consider the information before the next CBC meeting (May 10) and bring any concerns to the table at that time.

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